I will tell you that when I was heavy, people would say to me - and it was such a backhanded compliment - they would say, 'You've got such a beautiful face,' in the way of, like, 'Oh, isn't it a shame that from the neck down you're questionable.'
Interpretation
The quote highlights the backhanded nature of compliments that shamefully emphasize a person's appearance.
In this quote, Kate Winslet reflects on her experiences with body image and societal standards of beauty. She points out how backhanded compliments can reveal underlying judgments about one's body, suggesting that the speaker acknowledges beauty but simultaneously critiques the person, imposing an unrealistic standard that ties worth to appearance.
In practice
In a speech about body positivity, you might quote Kate Winslet to illustrate the impact of backhanded compliments.
As a child, I never heard one woman say to me, "I love my body". Not my mother, my elder sister, my best friend. No one woman has ever said, "I am so proud of my body." So I make sure to say it to Mia , because a positive physical outlook has to start at an early age.
What I am very, very moved and struck by is that so many people in the world are often living a life that they hadn't planned for themselves. And they wake up one day and say, 'Hang on. Who am I? Is this really me? Is this what I really wanted?' And also, 'Can I change it? Have I got the courage to change it?'
Real luxury is having the time to read endless stories in bed with my children. And I get that all the time. I'm so blessed.
If you're not still learning and growing as an actor, then you have no backbone and no career
I think there's a lot of pressure on young people to really be the thing that everyone is telling them that they are, opposed to discovering it for themselves.
I've decided I am going to start loving my backside because I don't know anyone who does that. And for my daughter, I want to be able to say to her, 'I love this.'
If I had no duties, and no reference to futurity, I would spend my life in driving briskly in a post-chaise with a pretty woman.
The practice of love is the most powerful antidote to the politics of domination.
Thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of his own suit, a high resolve constrained him not to injure that of another. This is a lover's most stoical virtue, as the lack of it is a lover's most venial sin.
Love is only a small thing, enough for one person, and any suggestion that the heart might be larger than this is considered perverse.
Ah me! Love can not be cured by herbs.
Music I heard with you was more than music, and bread I broke with you was more than bread. Now that I am without you, all is desolate; all that was once so beautiful is dead.
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